TNA Wrestling presented its sixth annual edition of No Surrender last Sunday. The show opened up to Motor City Machine Guns’ Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin defending the titles against Max and Jeremy Buck of Generation Me. Initially Sabin and Shelley were scheduled to defend against Desmond Wolfe and Brutus Magnus, but they were pulled from the show. Story has not been confirmed other than TNA explanation of “due to personal issues.” Some were saying that it was because of an injury, others that the Britons didn’t go over well with fans. Then again, when has TNA ever listened to its fans? Personally, the London Brawling appeared to be a fresh new tag team that would have delivered an excellent match-up against TNA’s World Tag champs.

EV2, the ECW Originals, lost in a clean sweep against the members of Fortune and Abyss. Douglas Williams defended the X-Division title against Sabu in what can be described as faulty. Sabu botched up several of the moves, allowing Williams to capitalize with ease. Rhino took Abyss to the limit in a Falls Count Anywhere match, but the adventure underneath the stage was both creative and cheesy as the impact of the wood panels bursting open were obviously pre-cut. Then the leaders of both factions met in a “I Quit” match. “The Phenomenal One” AJ Styles forced “The Innovator of Violence” Tommy Dreamer to utter the dreaded words. Styles has evolved into an outstanding performer by having the right heel attitude to force a man, who once competed in a Scaffold match, to his limits.

As for the two TNA World Title Tournament semi-final matches, Mr. Anderson advanced by defeating D’Angelo Dinero. As for Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy, no decisive victor was presented because both men refused to lose to the other. During the first match segment, Hardy delivered three Swanton Bombs and a Whisper in the Wind, while Angle executed several Angle Slams and Ankle Locks. The match time expired at the twenty-minute mark, and would extend two more times with five-minute extensions. After thirty-minutes of wrestling, Eric Bischoff refused to add another five in wake of Angle’s serious gash to the forehead. Without a doubt a Match of the Year candidate.

With one more week to go before WWE presents Night of Champions, the WWE Heavyweight match has vacated a spot in the 6-Pack Challenge. Raw’s General Manager forced Edge and Chris Jericho into matches where if unsuccessful, would forfeit their spots in the main-event. Edge defeated The Great Khali, but Jericho fell to John Morrison. Chris Jericho, who vowed if he was not victorious at Night of Champions would walk away from professional wrestling, is at a cross-roads in his career as he is unable to compete at the pay-per-view. As for the threat against Nexus, John Cena had an unpredictably good match with Justin Gabriel, while Randy Orton not only won his match against Wade Barrett with an RKO, but struck Darren Young, Sheamus, and Edge with RKOs.

Raw’s other champions were busy with other threats. Daniel Bryan finally broke his silence and challenged The Miz for the U.S. title at Night of Champions, which he accepted. And Melina Perez successfully defended the Divas’ title for the second week in a row–this time against Alicia Fox.

WWE presented the new season of NXT this past Tuesday, this time an all-Divas edition. Kelly-Kelly‘s rookie Naomi Knight made the biggest impact by winning all the Rookie challenges and impressively showing her athleticism in her tag match against Maxine and Alicia Fox. The finish of the match was unbelievably botched as Alicia broke the cover that Naomi had on Maxine, but the referee still gave the three-count to declare Naomi the winner. And because Tony Chimel failed to announce the winners, Naomi–unaware of the referee already calling the match–continued to slam Maxine with a suplex. The final bout between Goldust and Aksana against Primo Colon and AJ, was also poor quality. Goldust and Primo traded blows, until Aksana and AJ wrestled for about three moves–botching a running bull dog–before AJ went for the cover. Vickie Guerrero revealed a beautiful fitness model by the name of Kaitlyn as her replacement rookie. The girl next door/class clown will prove to be a comedic relief for fans simply not interested in WWE’s version of women’s wrestling. Plus she’s very easy on the eyes, which is what we are all focused on, right?

As for SmackDown, C.M. Punk and Big Show will meet at Night of Champions. Since neither men are champions, this could turn into a contender’s match for WWE’s World title. Also, Dolph Ziggler will defend the Intercontinental title against Kofi Kingston. And the WWE World title match between Undertaker and Kane has been made into a No Holds Barred match, which means Taker can use Hell’s Gate.

Yesterday at the Manhattan Center in NYC, Ring of Honor Wrestling presented a phenomenal internet pay-per-view, Glory by Honor IX. The first half of the show presented quality match ups against Kenny King and Jay Briscoe, and Rhett Titus and Mark Briscoe. Kenny and Mark won their respective matches, earning a victory over the other. The Embassy’s Eric Stevens and Necro Butcher took care of business in tag team action against Grizzly Redwood and Ballz Mahoney. The New York crowd chanted “ECW” to Mahoney, who stopped the crowd and started chanting “ROH.” A similar reaction occured during the Double Chain match between El Generico and Colt Cabana against Kevin Steen and Steve Corino. Corino looked at the crowd in disgust and threw a chair to Cabana. This could mean several things: these ECW Originals may feel that TNA’s reunion is deplorable, or that ECW no longer defines them. The chain match was graphic for the blood squeamish, but the match was great and did not necessarily need the sight of blood. At one point, Colt Cabana was double chained to the ring posts as Corino maliciously taunting him with a steel chair. The match ended in favor of Generico and Cabana, but Steen got the last laugh as he swiped Generico’s mask.

The second half of the show was chalk full of incredible pro wrestling matches. Eddie Edwards defended the Television title against Shawn Daivari by submission. Christopher Daniels defeated Austin Aries with Angle’s Wings from the top turnbuckle in a meeting between the best wrestlers in the world. The dream match between Kings of Wrestling’s Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli against The World’s Greatest Tag Team’s Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas was not oversold because it was indeed a Dream match. Witnessing these men in the ring was an unbelievable sight. These were not just men, these were wrestling gods tearing down the house. The match was too close to call. But with a loaded elbow pad from Chris Hero, Kings of Wrestling stole a victory from World’s Greatest Tag Team. Shelton, no longer sporting the Sisqo Gold Standard look, tweeted “That was the most fun I’ve had in about 3 years,” and declared that they would be back.

The final match was poured with hatred from New York fans with chants of “You Sold Out,” “Future Jobber,” “NXT,” “FCW,” and a sea of middle fingers towards the defending ROH champion Tyler Black. Roderick Strong, though a heel since joining Truth Martini, received all the adulation from the fans, and cheered him on to his long awaited crowning as the new ROH World Champion. Fans then rightfully chanted “Thank you, Tyler,” but the damage had already been done. Tyler flipped off the champion and the fans and left the arena for good.

ROH will return to Manhattan Center for Final Battle on December 18. ROH Executive Commissioner Jim Cornette announced that Davey Richards, who was set to leave ROH at the end of 2010, has decided to resign and would have a World title match at Final Battle. However, a returning Homicide has already called out Roderick Strong for a title match at Final Battle – possible triple-threat?

Despite being on the air for twenty-one years, The Simpsons have not even come close to WWE Monday Night Raw. On August 30, 2010, Raw aired its 900th episode making it the longest weekly episodic television show in history, as reminded to us by Michael Cole every week since Raw’s 800th milestone.

Wrestlers from WWE’s other shows also made appearances throughout the night. The three NXT finalists were in action in a Triple Threat tag team match. U.S. Champion and Raw MITB winner The Miz and Alex Riley defeated the teams of Kaval and Daniel Bryan, and Michael McGillicutty and Kofi Kingston. With Miz having much animosity towards his former rookie Daniel Bryan, he took much satisfaction on pinning Kaval. Alberto Del Rio, SmackDown’s newest star, is quickly making an impact throughout the WWE. After Evan Bourne lost to Jack Swagger, Del Rio placed him in a Rolling cross armbar to demonstrate to the Raw audience what happened to his “amigito” Rey Mysterio Jr. Raw featured an inter-promotional Divas tag match with Divas champion Melina Perez and Eve Torres defeating Co-Women’s champions Michelle McCool and Layla-El. LayCool issued Melina a Title Unification match for Night of Champions, which will be contested under Lumberjill rules. Seeing as SmackDown has lost a majority of its female competitors over the past year, a unification match for a depleting division seems like the obvious choice.

Raw’s 900 had some hits and misses. When Raw’s General Manager booked Bret Hart to take on The Undertaker, it had all the makings of a Monday Night classic. But rather than witnessing a historic concept between the two veterans that appeared on Raw’s debut episode, the match never took place thanks to Wade Barrett and Kane. Another miss occurred when trying to crown new contenders for WWE’s tag team belts, the match between JohnMorrison, R-Truth, Cody Rhodes, and Drew McIntyre ended in a double-disqualification. But the night wasn’t a total miss. The Nexus were victorious against five of Raw’s biggest stars in an Elimination match.

The main-event was both shocking and expected. Chris Jericho and Edge walked away from the match, granting Team Raw two eliminations, and the remainder were too prideful to work as a team. WWE Heavyweight champion Sheamus did not run away as predicted, but lived up to the Celtic Warrior moniker by taking the fight to Nexus. He unfortunately succumbed to Heath Slater, followed by John Cena to the 450-degree Splash by Justin Gabriel. Randy Orton, facing a 3-on-1 odd, took out Michael Tarver and Justin Gabriel within seconds after striking with RKOs. The match ended with Wade Barrett slamming Orton with Wasteland for the victory. The win was shocking because Nexus took out the WWE champion, WWE’s poster boy, and WWE’s insanely popular new fan favorite in one main-event. But it was also expected because WWE is sparring no expense towards building The Nexus as a force to be reckoned with.

Season two of NXT finally came to a close with Kaval revealed as the new breakout star. The last two eliminated were Alex Riley and Michael McGillicutty. The first was eliminated shortly after winning a triple threat match, and the latter for failing to impress the WWE Pros and Universe with verbal skills.

With NXT Season Two being such a close race that it was, it’s hard to grasp at the final decision. Alex Riley’s charisma was unmatched by any rookie in NXT’s short history. The downfall was his gimmick did not cater to wrestling fans. Who wants to see a Varsity Jock picking on nerds, for that we watch The Simpsons to see Nelson pick on Bart.

When it came down to Kaval and McGillicutty, to admit that this was a hard decision would be an understatement. McGillicutty is a third generation superstar, much like Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr. He was undefeated for the longest with a record of 6-0. But when push came to shove, McGillicutty collapsed under the pressure of being Mr. Perfect’s kid. Instead of continuing his streak, he began a losing one. His mic skills were spewed with spite towards his other classmates. And his role of either fan favorite or heel seem to change every week. Kaval, though taking Daniel Bryan’s role as “internet sensation,” followed a concept that no other rookie had before–to get along and learn from the Pros. Despite having a decade of experience with various wrestling promotions around the world, Kaval learned not to take himself too seriously thanks to Michelle McCool and Layla-El.

As for Season 3, WWE announced that it would be an all Divas edition featuring only six contestants contrast to the eight-rookie scheme. Among the six are AJ Lee, Aksana, Jamie Keyes, Maxine, and Naomi Knight. The sixth rookie was a 6-foot-9 Amazon by the name of Aloisia, who was removed from the show before it started. WWE.com reported that Aloisia was fired by her NXT Pro Vickie Guerrero, and a new Diva would be named at the season’s premiere. Whether Aloisia was truly fired is unknown as of this time.

While WWE has another week until Night of Champions, TNA is gearing up for No Surrender this Sunday. The card is mostly composed of the EV2 members taking on the members of Fortune in singles matches. Sabu will challenge Douglas Williams for the X-Division title, Rhino and Abyss will meet in a Falls Count Anywhere match, and Tommy Dreamer will face AJ Styles in a “I Quit” match. The pay-per-view will also reveal the two men that will face one another at Bound for Glory to crown a new TNA World champion. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin will defend the TNA tag belts against Desmond Wolfe and Brutus Magnus. Sting and KevinNash team up to take on Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe. And former best friends, Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky will face one another – all at No Surrender.

The comedic exchanges between Motor City Machine Guns and London Brawling proved to be a nice build for a team that has yet to prove themselves for championship contention. Sure, the Britons managed to pick up some wins on TNA Xplosion, but they were against minor teams. Why doesn’t Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan shake things up? Throw MCMG and London Brawling in a main-event match with some main-event stars. That would make for an exciting match.

In other TNA news, Madison Rayne’s biker friend turned out to be Tara, the woman she forced out of the company several months ago at Sacrifice. Based on the lack of pop from the crowd, the assumption is that everyone already guessed that Tara, a motorcycle enthusiast, was the mysterious biker. Also, Abyss’ imaginary friends are not EV2 or Fortune. They will be revealed at 10.10.10, which, for those that couldn’t break the code, is the date for Bound for Glory. Guesses still point to the masked men that kidnapped Samoa Joe back on March 29 edition of Impact. No Surrender seems like a perfect time for Joe to turn on Jarrett and join forces with Sting and Nash as part of the Wolf Pack… or they.

ROH presented its final episode on HDNet for two weeks, as Ring of Honor will observe Labor Day. But ROH will not be out of action for two weeks, far from it. One week from today, at the Manhattan Center in New York City, Ring of Honor presents Glory by Honor IX. As mentioned in the last edition of The Weekend Post, Tyler Black requested that his title defense against Roderick Strong be a No Disqualification match. ROH Commissioner Jim Cornette has added Terry Funk as the Ringside Vigilante. Funk’s job will be to eliminate any form of outside interference, and–for whatever reason the referee cannot officiate–he will act as a replacement referee. In addition, Tyler Black stated that he intends on leaving ROH with the championship and taking it over to WWE. While Roderick Strong believes in himself that he will finally become ROH’s World champion.

ROH’s Tag champs, Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli, defeated El Generico and Colt Cabana in a warm up match for the Dream Match in NYC against Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin. Generico and Cabana will face off against Steve Corino and Kevin Steen in a Double Chain match. ROH Television champion Eddie Edwards–one half of The American Wolves–defends against Shawn Daivari, while former (and only) two-time ROH champion Austin Aries takes on “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels in a battle between the best wrestlers.

WWE SmackDown is nearing the end of its run on MyNetworkTV as ScyFy has announced that the premiere of SmackDown will air on October 1st. WWE World champion Kane announced that Undertaker would be his opponent at Night of Champions. Alberto Del Rio–who injured Mysterio’s wrist last week–has found a new enemy in the shape of Captain Charisma. Christian issued a challenge to Del Rio, which he accepted for a later date. Christian immediately reinforced his standings on SmackDown by defeating Drew McIntyre for the second time in a span of three weeks. The same success cannot be attributed to the other innovator of the TLC match, Matt Hardy. The elder Hardy lost to the young “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. Maybe Rhodes is right, perhaps Matt Hardy is “Version: Done.”

The release of Serena Deeb has not been mentioned on WWE TV, going with the old method – if they don’t mention it, we won’t remember it. C.M. Punk delivered a GTS to Luke Gallows, the first disciple of the Straight Edge Soceity, for submitting to Big Show in a handicap match. Leading to the assumption that S.E.S. is finally nearing its demise.

Author’s Disclaimer: While watching wrestling I tend to say some crazy things. So in honor of Freedom of Speech and being a Diehard Wrestling fan, I decided to share my thoughts with all of you. As said while watching the program.

“Are you serious! Look at those things! She has to be a straight-up porn star.” – Regarding Miss Tessmacher.

“Really? It was Tara the whole time? Thanks TNA… we knew that from the beginning.” – The Identity of The Biker Chick.

“As bad as this is… at least TNA has women storylines…” – The Knockouts Tag Team Match.

“Wasn’t he his therapist at one point?” – Stevie Richards against Abyss.

“You are no Shawn Michaels.” – Richards striking with the SuperKick.

“Why don’t you just ASK HIM to be your tag team partner!” – Jeff Jarrett hinting to Samoa Joe.

Two weeks removed from SummerSlam, WWE superstars are now setting sights on Night of Champions. On August 23, Raw’s General Manager granted WWE Heavyweight champion Sheamus the opportunity to pick his opponent for the pay-per-view. Despite sitting through four audition matches between various superstars, Sheamus attempted to outsmart WWE officials by soundly trouncing Zack Ryder and claimed that he would not be defending his title at Night of Champions due to the 30-day title defense clause.

In hindsight, Sheamus’ ploy to escape serious title contention was reminiscent of some of the great diabolical heels in the wrestling business. But Wade Barrett, dissolving his truce with Sheamus, decided to cash in his NXT winnings for a WWE Heavyweight title match at Night of Champions. And if the threat of The Nexus most likely having a profound presence wasn’t taxing enough, Raw’s General Manager added John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton to the title match making it a 6-Pack Challenge. So much for outsmarting WWE Management.

Out of the four added to the 6-Pack Challenge, Cena was the only superstar not to win his audition match. Having lost his match against The Miz due to outside interference by Daniel Bryan. The American Dragon locked Miz in the Omoplata crossface in retribution for past attacks at SummerSlam and Raw. Even though Miz technically won, he could not be inserted in the 6-Pack Challenge because he will have to defend his United States championship at the pay-per-view. Has anyone noticed that Daniel Bryan has not said a word since returning? If he keeps this up he will be known as The Silent Ass-Kicker.

With next week being the final episode of NXT Season 2, the three NXT finalists were not in action this week. Instead, Kaval, Michael McGillicutty, and Alex Riley competed in a WWE Trivia Challenge Quiz. The rest of the night was taken over by “Dashing” Cody Rhodes and “Montel Vontavious Porter” MVP. Denying a challenge set by Kaval, Rhodes who seems more fit to be a contestant on NXT than a Pro proved his mettle by defeating MVP in a singles match.

Seemingly, a Trivia Challenge is not enough to build momentum for WWE’s announcement on who will be the next break out star. Out of the three, the two most promising are Kaval and McGillicutty. Formerly known as Low Ki, Kaval had two stints in both ROH and TNA, as well as wrestling through Japan’s independent circuit. He is also the first ever Ring of Honor champion as well as a former Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World champion. As for McGillicutty, the son of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig has the makings of a future Intercontinental champion. He is also a former Florida Championship Wrestling Heavyweight champion, and a three time FCW Tag champ with Heath Slater, Brett DiBiase, and Kaval.

On September 11, Ring of Honor returns to the Manhattan Center for Glory by Honor IX. Three weeks ago, ROH announced that Tyler Black, the promotion’s World champion, had been signed to WWE. And with Glory by Honor being the final iPPV before Black leaves the company, many are anticipating the crowning of a new champion in Roderick Strong. On the August 23 edition of ROH on HDNet, at the request of the champion, the ROH title match will be contested under No Disqualification Rules. So unlike Supercard of Honor V, where Black and Strong’s match was flooded with referees dropping in and out of the match, or when Executive Producer Jim Cornette issued a three-way dance to include former-ROH champion Austin Aries at The Big Bang! Roderick Strong will be in total control when there are no rules.

Also taking place at Glory by Honor IX is the Dream Tag Team match between ROH World Tag champs Kings of Wrestling against The World’s Greatest Tag Team. Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli won the titles at The Big Bang! against Jay and Mark Briscoe. At Supercard of Honor V, The Briscoe Brothers interrupted a phenomenal title match between Kings and The Motor City Machine Guns’ Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. This time, Hero and Castagnoli will have to defend against Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. After alienating The Briscoe Brothers, The Kings of Wrestling may face some opposition before, and unfortunately, during the match.

Over in Orlando, Florida, Eric Bischoff regretfully announced that Rob Van Dam was viciously attacked within an inch of his life by “The Monster” Abyss. TNA Management declared the TNA World championship vacant, and a tournament be set in motion to crown a new champion by October at Bound for Glory. The four finalists in the tournament are Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, and Kurt Angle. As for No Surrender, the semi-finals will occur between Hardy and Angle, and Anderson and Dinero.

On June 17 edition of Impact, Ric Flair announced that he would reform The Four Horseman under the new name Fortune. Members include: TNA Television champion AJ Styles, TNA X-Division champion Douglas Williams, Kazarian, Matt Morgan, and Robert Roode and James Storm of Beer Money, Inc. Yet, Fortune is not the only stable to take over the Impact Zone. TNA Present Dixie Carter granted contracts to former ECW wrestlers dubbed EV 2.0. Tommy Dreamer and EV have been attacked by Fortune in the past several weeks. Abyss, Fortune’s unofficial member, sidelined Rob Van Dam by order of Fortune. TNA officials believe that Fortune are indeed the people that turned Abyss away from Hulk Hogan.

As for TNA’s Tag Team division, Max and Jeremy Buck of Generation Me took Sabin and Shelley to the limit in an enthralling tag team match. Desmond Wolfe and fellow Briton Brutus Magnus formed a compelling tag team known as London Brawling. The team will take on Motor City Machine Guns for the TNA Tag titles at No Surrender.

The Undertaker confronted his brother Kane on his return to SmackDown. While Kane claims to be the Devil’s Favorite Demon, Taker built the house that the Devil lives in and is addressed as sir.

WWE came to terms on the release of WWE Diva Serena. According to PWTorch, Serena was released for not living out her Straight Edge Society persona. Serena made her final WWE appearance on SmackDown being attacked by Kelly-Kelly during her fellow S.E.S. member’s match against Big Show. Serena is a former Florida Championship Wrestling Queen of FCW, and holds a record of six Ohio Valley Wrestling Women’s championships.

Luna Vachon, 48, the daughter of Butcher Vachon and the niece of “Mad Dog” Vachon, was found dead in her mother’s home. A former WWE, ECW, and WCW wrestler, Luna Vachon managed several wrestlers, including Bam Bam Bigelow, Gangrel, and Goldust. She also had a prominent feud with Madusa Miceli that spanned from Florida Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Federation, and World Championship Wrestling. She retired from professional wrestling on June 9, 2007, and was honored with “The Ladies Wrestling Award” in 2009 at the 44th annual Cauliflower Alley Club.

Much like any Ring of Honor DVD, Bryan Danielson: Rise to Glory focuses strictly on matches, and features no form of documentaries or interviews. The one-disc collection chronicles the career of Bryan Danielson throughout six matches in a span of four years.

In 2005, Bryan Danielson entered in one of the most prominent rivalries within the early years of the company against Homicide. The first match on the DVD, however, is not a match against Homicide but against Brian Kendrick (Spanky) in the opening round of the Best of the American Super Juniors – 4/24/05. Homicide remained on his quest for the ROH Title while The American Dragon tried his luck in the Super Jrs. tournament. Though Spanky was indeed faster than The American Dragon, Danielson was a lot smarter and more resilient as he was able to evade a Tornado DDT attempt and kick out of Slice Bread #2. Bryan Danielson advanced in the tournament by pinning Kendrick with the Regal Plex, a move adopted from his trainer William Regal.

Later in the year, Bryan Danielson would defeat James Gibson (Jamie Noble) for the ROH World Title at Glory By Honor IV – 9/17/05. The Ring of Honor World Title had eluded Bryan Danielson close to four years and finally culminated in one of the best matches of the year. The match is incredible, and the speech that American Dragon gives after winning allows fans to understand in retrospect why he went on to reign as ROH World Champion for fifteen months and set a record for successful title defenses. Throughout the course of his ROH Title reign, Bryan Danielson takes on a heel-persona, while still remaining a favorite among ROH fans.

In a feud that would eventually end his ROH career, Bryan Danielson took on the Pure Champion Nigel McGuinness (Desmond Wolfe) in a Unification Match at Unified – 8/12/06. The match would unify the ROH World and Pure Titles to determine the real champion. Bryan Danielson had been known as The Best Wrestler in the World, while Nigel McGuinness was recognized as the Best Pure Wrestler. With the setting being in the Pure Champion’s home country of Liverpool, England, the match was contested under Pure Title rules. The two most notable rules were: Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls during the match. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal. In addition, unlike other belts, during Pure Title rules, a belt can change hands on a count-out or a disqualification. This match marked the final night that the Pure Championship would be defended as a result of Bryan Danielson knocking McGuinness out cold with repeated elbow strikes to the side of the head. Moreover, it established Bryan Danielson as the best champion amongst the two.

While Bruno Sammartino made a name for himself in Madison Square Garden, Bryan Danielson created his own legacy at ROH’s first event in the Manhattan Center, in New York City, at Glory By Honor V Night 2 by successfully defending the ROH World Title against Kenta, a guest challenger from Pro Wrestling Noah – 9/16/06. Sadly, the DVD does not have American Dragon’s speech to the fans at the start of the event about making his own legacy, nor the encounter with both Kenta and Bruno Sammartino prior to his match.

At Final Battle 2006, Danielson’s fifteen month reign came to an end at the hands of Homicide (not mentioned on the DVD). He would later return to ROH World Title contention as a fan favorite against Takeshi Morishima at Manhattan Mayhem II in a losing effort – 8/25/07. Danielson suffered a detached retina during the match. Fans chanted that he was still the Best Wrestler in the World, in which Dragon stated that the Best in the World was the one holding the ROH World Title, which at the time was Takeshi Morishma.

The final match on the DVD is possibly the most important as Bryan Danielson took on Tyler Black at Breakout – 1/25/08. Tyler Black, who became ROH Champion on February 13, 2010 at ROH’s 8th Anniversary Show, was a rule breaker in 2008. At the start of the match, Dragon extended his hand as it is customary in ROH’s Code of Honor, and Tyler greeted the hand with a swift kick. Black showed little respect towards Danielson with a series of kicks and slaps to the face. Though a lot of the arrogance displayed by Tyler Black mirrored Danielson during his ROH Title reign, he had always maintained the Code of Honor. Tyler Black obviously had the potential to lead the company some day, but Bryan Danielson basically had to kick his head in to get the message across.

ROH’s Bryan Danielson: Rise to Glory DVD is a phenomenal 6-match set because Bryan Danielson ups his intensity and his technical precision in every match. Yet, the DVD could have done better with some form of documentary or interview, and possibly extenting the collection to 2-or-more discs.

With TNA firing several wrestlers to make room for the grossly over paid veterans, Jay Lethal was considered to be next after it was announced that Consequences Creed, his tag team parter, was released. Yet, Jay Lethal has quickly risen up the ranks of TNA, thanks to the powers that be.

“Black Machismo”

Jay Lethal’s former Black Machismo persona actually saved his career, since TNA Creative would have been remiss not to play around with a Mega Powers parody with Hulk Hogan now in TNA. With Machismo reminiscing of the days of their illustrious tag team, Hogan was simply left with no alternative one week than to leave Lethal in charge of Impact!, who pitched several match ideas with WWF superstars from the 80’s (both deceased and retired) that The Mega Powers had faced. Eric Bischoff, frustrated with “Black Machismo,” placed Lethal in a 2-on-1 handicap match against Beer Money. Unbeknownst to the fans, Lethal’s victory over James Storm and Robert Roode would restore confidence that TNA can still develop their own stars.

“The Nature Boy II”

Jay Lethal may have convinced wrestling fans that he was deranged in his “Macho Man” character, but when Hogan presented him with Ric Flair’s Hall of Fame ring, Lethal became stylin’ and profilin’. In one of the most comedic and uplifting opening segments in TNA history, Jay Lethal strutted to Ric Flair’s entrance theme, wearing an expensive suit and sunglasses. He then began to deliver a spot-on impersonation of Ric Flair, until the real Ric Flair interrupted. Ric Flair rejected Lethal’s apologies, and in turn started a feud.

Thankfully, Jay Lethal has not adopted an AJ Flair original robe, complete with TNA’s budget. Ric Flair, currently forming his new faction, Fortune, has thrown every obstacle in Lethal’s way. Jay Lethal has taken on Kazarian, AJ Styles, Kazarian and AJ Styles in a 3-way match, Desmond Wolfe, and even Matt Morgan, who claims Flair has been trying to recruit. And every obstacle that Flair has set in Lethal’s way, he has been victorious.

The only obstacle left for Jay Lethal to overcome is “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair at Victory Road.

Lethal’s Personas

Jay Lethal has been a diehard wrestling fan since he was a kid. During a time when these larger-than-life superstars wrestled in the ring with such magnificent personas that one couldn’t help but emulate. Aside from Hulk Hogan, superstars like “Macho Man” Randy Savage did not make a lick of sense during his promos, but he had a raspy voice and catchy phrases, which made him into an instant favorite. Ric Flair is a character all on his own, with his diamond feathered robes, his expensive suits, his struts in the ring, his lavish lifestyles, figure-fours, knife-edged chops, and the ever popular “Wooo!” In addition to both Savage and Flair having such wild personas that one only wished to live up to, the two were phenomenal technical wrestlers. So phenomenal, that the two have fought on the grandest stage at WrestleMania for the coveted WWF World Title.

Jay Lethal’s match with Ric Flair is not just a culmination of a feud, it’s the dream match from his child hood. It’s the sole reason why Lethal laced up a pair of boots, to one day become an icon mega power like Savage and Flair. Can Jay Lethal live up to the legendary status of either Randy Savage or Ric Flair to become The Man of TNA?

TNA Wrestling presented TNA Live at MCU Park in Brooklyn, NY. This was my first time attending a live TNA event, mainly because it’s located in Orlando, Florida and rarely makes its way to New York. This was also my first time experiencing a wrestling show… on a baseball field. The TNA ring was set up on home plate. And the net used to protect baseball fans from fly balls was still hung up and, at times, disoriented our vision of the wrestlers.

Four-Way match where the winner earns a title shot at the X-Division Title

Even though Brian Kendrick is in line for another X-Division title shot, TNA Live hosted a 4-Way match to determine another contender for Douglas Williams’ title. The contenders were Brian Kendrick, Jay Lethal, Brooklyn’s own Homicide and Amazing Red. Plenty of New York flavor jammed packed into the opening match.

Seeing Jay Lethal in the match was disappointing. Why is he competing for a shot at the X-Division title when he’s currently feuding with Flair and the members of Fortune (TNA’s new Four-Horseman)? And he’s been ranked No. 7 in TNA’s June Top 10 Ranking, which puts him in favor of a future TNA World Heavyweight Title shot.

Brian Kendrick seemed like the odds on certainty to win the match, definitely not the favorite. He was comedic though, because when he made his entrance, he started running the bases before reaching the TNA ring at home plate. This is my second time watching Brian Kendrick wrestle live. The first was at ROH’s 8th Anniversary Show against Roderick Strong.

Of course, the two favorites were New York’s Homicide and Amazing Red. Homicide may be remembered as a member of LAX, but I will remember him as the guy who won the ROH World Title from Bryan Danielson, which was a major upset. Yet, it was Amazing Red who got the win on Brian Kendrick via the Red Star Press.

A nice way to jump-start the night. With Amazing Red claiming victory, it totally got the fans at MCU Park pumped to see what else was in store for the rest of the night.

Non-TNA Women’s Knockout Championship Match

Originally scheduled to be a TNA Women’s Knockout Title match, was changed due to the champion Madison Rayne. Seeing as Angelina Love will have a title shot at Victory Road, no sense in providing her with a second title match.

The New York fans were really behind Angelina Love; and by behind I mean her rear-end. The majority of the male audience rushed to the net to take photos of Angelina and her wiggling in between the ropes. As for Madison Rayne, her screeching did not garner her any fan-ship. However, Madison did rely on her sex appeal to gain fans for only a moment when she executed the Push up facebuster.

The match barely got any pop, which is a shame because the Knockout Division use to be the best in main-stream women’s wrestling. But the match did have a happy ending, as senior referee Earl Hebner made out with Madison Rayne, who kept shoving him throughout the match. And Angelina picked up the win off of the distraction with Light’s Out. If this was a title match, we would then have seen a new TNA Women’s Knockout Champion.

Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle

No, Chelsea was not at the show. Thankfully I left my “I came to see Chelsea” sign at home. But to see Kurt Angle, forget that he’s pro-wrestling’s only Olympic Gold medalist, but he is The Wrestling Machine, was a real treat. And then to set him up in a match with Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness) promised a superb wrestling contest.

Which is exactly what happened. Desmond managed to escape The Ankle Lock and counter the Angle Slam. He even executed the Tower of London, which hardly anyone ever kicks out of. But Angle managed to do just that. Sadly we didn’t get to see Angle perform the moonsault, but he did force Wolfe to tap out with Phase 2 of the Ankle Lock.

Monster’s Ball match

A rematch of Impact!’s main-event, Jeff Hardy versus “The Monster” Abyss in a Monster’s Ball match. Abyss generated a lot of heat from the fans by mocking Hulk Hogan’s gestures, and filling the ring with steel chairs. Jeff Hardy arrived late to his own entrance music, leaving fans to either believe he was going to make a crazy entrance from the bleachers, or was simply trying to sober up after pre-gaming at the bar next door to the stadium.

Jeff Hardy, clad in his original wrestling gear, brought back memories to my first-ever wrestling event. I went to watch Jeff Hardy challenge Randy Orton for the WWE Title at Madison Square Garden (Royal Rumble). I recall that everyone at MSG rose to their feet as Jeff was climbing for the Swanton Bomb. Would we see the charismatic enigma become the second WWE superstar in history to hold both the WWE Title and the Intercontinental Title at the same time? Side note: Triple-H was a World Heavyweight Champion, not WWE Champion when he unified Kane’s I-C belt. Randy Orton knocked Hardy off and I never got to see the Swanton Bomb live in-person.

Abyss seemed to have had the match won as he stopped Jeff from the executing the Swanton Bomb, and poured thumb tacks into the ring. He was looking to powerslam Hardy from the top turnbuckle and into the tacks. But in my mind, and after witnessing countless Hardy matches throughout his career, I foresaw him punching Abyss, pushing him off the turnbuckle and into the tacks, followed by the Swanton Bomb. But TNA has changed Hardy, because instead of simply pushing Abyss, he jumped over Abyss and went for a Sunset flip powerbomb, driving Abyss through the thumb tacks. Then, it finally happened, I got to see Jeff Hardy go for the Swanton Bomb on Abyss for the win. It was a dream come true for this life-long Hardy fan.

Entering the ring first was Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal (Ink Inc.). I’m still not a fan of theirs, because they have yet to grab my interest. Just because Neal and Moore both have tats and Mohawks doesn’t necessarily make them tag team material. Yet, I do have to give Moore credit in making a more appealing tag team than that of Jimmy Wang Yang back in WWE.

With 2008 being the first year I started going to live wrestling events, I never got a chance to see the greats like Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, or even The Dudley Boyz. How appropriate in TNA’s biggest live event of the summer than to have Brooklyn’s own Brother Ray and Brother Devon (Team 3D) competing in New York.

Unlike what we are used to watching every Thursday Night on Impact! Brother Ray and Brother Devon were playing to what the crowd wanted. There was no arguments between Ray and Devon, or Ray and Jesse Neal, it was a good old fashioned Dudley match. And of course, what did the fans wanted? A Tables Match!!! Ray stuck Neal with a steel chair, while Devon went to work on Moore with a crutch from an actual fan. It was no work, the fan in the audience actually needed crutches to walk around. But as a true fan, he lent his support, literally, to keep the match going. The match ended with Team 3D dropping Neal through the table with the Dudley Death Drop.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match

The challenger from Gainesville, Georgia, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles did not stride into the ring in his pathetic Nature Boy robe, but in his Phenomenal AJ Styles hoodie. Love him or hate him, AJ Styles should be at the top of the company. At this live show, AJ Styles brought his raw talent back to the playing field. No short-cuts, no Ric Flair, just simply Phenomenal. And even though fans were booing Styles, I took the risk in cheering “You’re PHENOMENAL!”

Hogan and Bischoff knew what they were doing when they put the title on Rob Van Dam, but the man is simply overrated. Sure, we all enjoy gesturing to his entrance music “Rob Van Dam!… The Whole F’n Show!” but being the Champion should mean more than that. RVD simply executes a couple of impressive moves and that’s it. Throughout the match he keeps getting the fans to chant his name. While AJ Styles is trying to get the best match possible from RVD. And that’s what AJ Styles is about, putting on the best matches when he’s allowed to. Yet, we did see some impressive moves from both, Styles going for the pele kick, and RVD going with his own pele kick. Finally, Rob Van Dam retained his title with Rolling Thunder, followed by Five-Star Frog Splash.

Author’s Notes: This happened to be my first experience attending a TNA Wrestling event, having previously only watched it on Spike TV. Sadly, it had to occur during Hogan-Bischoff’s regime of the company. Before Hogan-Bischoff, TNA was truly Total-Non-stop Action. When did we start incorporating a 30-minute intermission at a wrestling event? It’s understandable in independent shows because they make most of their money on ticket and DVD sales, but TNA should have run a full show.

Not only that, at the merchandise stand, why in the world is Hulk Hogan’s t-shirt $10 more than everyone else’s? And what kind of business decision is it to sell RVD’s new t-shirt, along with 4 TNA DVD’s only for $20. That is roughly an $80 value for only a fourth of the price. How is TNA expected to make money if they are making poor business decisions? Even though in this economy, wrestling fans would be stupid not to bank on that deal.

Then of course there were the autograph signings before the show started. Jeff Hardy selling autographs for $50? Are you serious? This had to be Hogan’s doing. Because when I got Jeff’s signature, during WWE’s promotion of SmackDown’s move to MyNetwork, I got it for free. Then J.B. and Don West plugged away at Rob Van Dam by telling fans to buy the t-shirt/brown bag special, and purchase an additional $20 yellow ticket in order to take your picture with RVD in the ring after the show?

Then forcing fans to cheer for TNA because you promised them that they can go to the dugout to meet the TNA stars? When fans cheer in ROH, it’s because the product is worth cheering for, not because we are being bribed. And when fans cheer in the WWE, it’s because we want to cheer or jeer for the superstars, not because McMahon begged us to.

The overall product of the matches was nothing special. But then again, most non-televised live events tend to simply be about the worthwhile experience of seeing wrestlers perform live with other wrestling fans. Which it was, because aside from the blatant prostitution of their wrestlers to make up for the millions of dollars lost during the failed move to Monday Nights, it was a wild experience to witness “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, The Dudley Boyz in a classic Tables Match, Jeff Hardy performing the Swanton Bomb, and “The Wrestling Machine” Kurt Angle.

The company announced that they would be returning to New York City at Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday, September 23. Maybe your’s truly will cross the line once again to witness TNA Wrestling Live!